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Tusculum’s Placido Torres still throwing strikes, just not as fast

Placido Torres can flip a switch — when the innings are late and the score is tight — that few baseball players have.

'He's capable of going to a different gear, a different level at times,' Tusculum coach Doug Jones said Tuesday of his pitcher. 'You'll probably see him better on the radar gun later in the game than you're going to see him a lot of times early in the game.'

'I have my adrenaline pumping,' Torres added, 'and I just go. I just do it.'

The left-handed Tusculum ace isn't bad in the early innings, either.

Torres (9-0) leads the South Atlantic Conference and is third in Division II in both ERA (0.73) and WHIP (0.72). His hits allowed per nine innings pitched (4.59) also leads the league and is second in Division II. His 141 strikeouts lead all three NCAA divisions.

Named the conference's pitcher of the year on Thursday, Torres will lead third-seeded Tusculum (32-15) in the SAC tournament at Smokies Stadium in Sevierville.

The Pioneers will face No. 4 seed Lincoln Memorial University (28-19) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. No. 5 Newberry (32-17-1) against No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne (33-17) will open the tournament at 4 p.m. Thursday. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday.

In two seasons, Torres tops the Tusculum record books in ERA (1.52), shutouts (4) and strikeouts (251).

'We knew when we got him last year that he was special,' Jones said. 'He was that guy that was probably going to be our top-end guy in the rotation.'

Torres, who was born in the Dominican Republic but attended high school in North Brunswick, N.J., admittedly relied too much on his fastball as a junior last year, after transferring to Tusculum from ASA College in New York City. After not getting drafted last summer, he bypassed the chance to sign an undrafted free-agent contract and returned to college.

'I told him I would support whatever he decided to do,' Jones said, 'but I did think he could get better. In particular, breaking-ball command and throwing all three pitches for strikes. And that's exactly what he's done. He's a complete pitcher right now.'

He won nine games again this season, the same number as his junior year. His strikeouts are up from 110 — the school record he set as a junior and smashed as a senior — to 141. His ERA dropped from 2.43 in 2015 to 0.73 this season, another Tusculum single-season record.

'I worked on my off-speed (pitches),' Torres said of his offseason evolution. 'I had a great fall and I kept working on my off-speed. Thankfully it got better.'

'Just about every outing he's had,' Jones said, 'he's had great command.'

The attention from pro scouts has intensified with the eye-popping numbers. But Torres hasn't started thinking about professional baseball, his college team still has work to be done.

'I'm not so worried about that right now,' he said. 'We have a goal and that's to win our tournament since we came a little short in the (regular season). We're working hard for that.